1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of universal serial bus (USB) flash drives and particularly to a method and apparatus for designing USB flash drives having pen-like configuration with deploying and retracting functionalities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As computers have gained enormous popularity in recent decades, so has the need for better and more efficient ways of storing memory. Notable among memory devices are the portable ones that may be carried around by the user to access computers at different locations. This is particularly common in the case of personal computers (PC) where the need often arises to transfer data from one PC to another. Examples of portable memory devices include nonvolatile memory devices such as a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive that is removably connectible to a computer.
Universal serial bus (USB) flash drives are available in various shapes and forms. The USB flash drive needs a USB plug connector to be coupled to a USB port of a host device such as a PC. The USB flash drive generally has a metal casing and a cover which is screwed in or otherwise attached to the casing. To access the USB plug connector the user needs to open the metal cover and put it back on the casing after finishing the work with the USB flash drive. The shape of the casing and cover may be in the form of a pen or some other configuration.
However, use of the metallic parts such as the casing and the cover generally results in a heavy USB flash drive which is not very convenient to carry. The dimensions of the casing and cover are often large resulting in a long USB flash drive which is another impediment to easy carriage of the unit. In addition, once the cover is removed, it may be lost or simply forgotten to be put back on the casing.
It is therefore desirable to design and develop a USB flash drive with a relatively short and compact configuration that is light and may therefore be easily carried around by the user. In addition, the desired USB flash drive should not incur substantial cost of manufacturing but should rather improve the manufacturing and assembly process over the existing USB flash drives with metallic components.